Overview

The Third Edition of this highly acclaimed book expands on previous editions with coverage of newly emerged theories and empirical updates supported by over 140 new references. Criminological Theory provides coverage of the latest theories in the field without diminishing the presentation of classic analysis. Major theoretical perspectives that have developed from both recent critical work and traditional schools, together with practical applications, compel the reader to apply theories to the contemporary social milieu.

A strong emphasis on social policy implications concerning crime and criminals make this a vital text for sociology, criminology, and criminal justice classes.

Product Details

About the Author

J. Robert Lilly is Regents Professor of Sociology/Criminology and Adjunct Professor of Law at Northern Kentucky University. His research interests include the pattern of capital crimes committed by U.S. soldiers during World War II, the “commercial-corrections complex,” juvenile delinquency, house arrest and electronic monitoring, criminal justice in the People’s Republic of China, the sociology of law, and criminological theory. He has published in Criminology, Crime & Delinquency, Social Problems, Legal Studies Forum, Northern Kentucky Law Review, Journal of Drug Issues, The New Scholar, Adolescence, Qualitative Sociology, Federal Probation, International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, Justice Quarterly, and The Howard Journal. He has coauthored several articles and book chapters with Richard A. Ball, and he is coauthor of House Arrest and Correctional Policy: Doing Time at Home. In 2003 he published La Face Cachee Des GI’s: Les Viols commis par des soldats amercains en France, en Angleterre et en Allemange pendat la Second Guerre mondial. It was translated into Italian and published (2004) as Stupppi Di Guerra: Le Violenze Commesse Dai Soldati Americani in Gran Bretagna, Francia e Germania 1942–1945. It was published in English in 2007. The latter work is part of his extensive research on patterns of crimes and punishments experienced by U.S. soldiers in WWII in the European Theater of War. The Hidden Face of the Liberators, a made-for-TV documentary by Program 33 (Paris), was broadcast in Switzerland and France in March 2006 and was a finalist at the International Television Festival of Monte Carlo in 2007. He is the past treasurer of the American Society of Criminology. In 1988, he was a visiting professor in the School of Law at Leicester Polytechnic and was a visiting scholar at All Soul’s College in Oxford, England. In 1992, he became a visiting professor at the University of Durham in England. He was co-editor of The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice from 2006-2012.

Francis T. Cullen is Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus in the School of Criminal Justice at the University of Cincinnati, where he also holds an appointment as Senior Research Associate. He received a Ph.D. (1979) in sociology and education from Columbia University. Professor Cullen has published more than 300 works in the areas of criminological theory, corrections, white-collar crime, public opinion, and the measurement of sexual victimization. He is author of Rethinking Crime and Deviance Theory: The Emergence of a Structuring Tradition and is coauthor of Reaffirming Rehabilitation, Corporate Crime Under Attack: The Ford Pinto Case and Beyond, Criminology, Combating Corporate Crime: Local Prosecutors at Work, Unsafe in the Ivory Tower: The Sexual Victimization of College Women, Criminological Theory: Context and Consequences, and Environmental Corrections: A New Paradigm for Supervising Offenders in the Community. He also is coeditor of Criminological Theory: Past to PresentEssential Readings, Taking Stock: The Status of Criminological Theory, The Origins of American Criminology, the Encyclopedia of Criminological Theory, The Oxford Handbook of Criminological Theory, The American Prison: Imagining a Different Future, Challenging Criminological Theory: The Legacy of Ruth Rosner Kornhauser, and Sisters in Crime Revisited: Bringing Gender into Criminology. Professor Cullen is a Past President of the American Society of Criminology and of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. In 2010, he received the ASC Edwin H. Sutherland Award.

Richard A. Ball is Professor of Administration of Justice at Penn StateFayette and former Program Head for Administration of Justice for the 12-campus Commonwealth College of Penn State. He is former Chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at West Virginia University, and received his doctorate from Ohio State University in 1965. He has authored several monographs on community power structure and correctional issues and co-edited a monograph and a book on white-collar crime. He has authored or coauthored approximately 100 articles and book chapters, including articles in the American Journal of Corrections, American Sociological Review, The American Sociologist, British Journal of Social Psychiatry, Correctional Psychology, Crime and Delinquency, Criminology, Federal Probation, International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, International Social Science Review, Journal of Communication, Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, Journal of Small Business Management, Journal of Psychohistory, Justice Quarterly, Northern Kentucky Law Review, Qualitative Sociology, Rural Sociology, Social Forces, Social Problems, Sociological Focus, Sociological Symposium, Sociology and Social Welfare, Sociology of Work and Occupations, Urban Life, Victimology, and World Futures. He is coauthor of House Arrest and Correctional Policy: Doing Time at Home (1988).

Read an Excerpt

J. Robert Lilly is Regents Professor of Sociology/Criminology and Adjunct Professor of Law at Northern Kentucky University. His research interests include the pattern of capital crimes committed by U.S. soldiers during World War II, the “commercial-corrections complex,” juvenile delinquency, house arrest and electronic monitoring, criminal justice in the People’s Republic of China, the sociology of law, and criminological theory. He has published in Criminology, Crime & Delinquency, Social Problems, Legal Studies Forum, Northern Kentucky Law Review, Journal of Drug Issues, The New Scholar, Adolescence, Qualitative Sociology, Federal Probation, International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, Justice Quarterly, and The Howard Journal. He has coauthored several articles and book chapters with Richard A. Ball, and he is coauthor of House Arrest and Correctional Policy: Doing Time at Home. In 2003 he published La Face Cachee Des GI’s: Les Viols commis par des soldats amercains en France, en Angleterre et en Allemange pendat la Second Guerre mondial. It was translated into Italian and published (2004) as Stupppi Di Guerra: Le Violenze Commesse Dai Soldati Americani in Gran Bretagna, Francia e Germania 1942–1945. It was published in English in 2007. The latter work is part of his extensive research on patterns of crimes and punishments experienced by U.S. soldiers in WWII in the European Theater of War. The Hidden Face of the Liberators, a made-for-TV documentary by Program 33 (Paris), was broadcast in Switzerland and France in March 2006 and was a finalist at the International Television Festival of Monte Carlo in 2007. He is the past treasurer of the American Society of Criminology. In 1988, he was a visiting professor in the School of Law at Leicester Polytechnic and was a visiting scholar at All Soul’s College in Oxford, England. In 1992, he became a visiting professor at the University of Durham in England. He was co-editor of The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice from 2006-2012.

Francis T. Cullen is Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus in the School of Criminal Justice at the University of Cincinnati, where he also holds an appointment as Senior Research Associate. He received a Ph.D. (1979) in sociology and education from Columbia University. Professor Cullen has published more than 300 works in the areas of criminological theory, corrections, white-collar crime, public opinion, and the measurement of sexual victimization. He is author of Rethinking Crime and Deviance Theory: The Emergence of a Structuring Tradition and is coauthor of Reaffirming Rehabilitation, Corporate Crime Under Attack: The Ford Pinto Case and Beyond, Criminology, Combating Corporate Crime: Local Prosecutors at Work, Unsafe in the Ivory Tower: The Sexual Victimization of College Women, Criminological Theory: Context and Consequences, and Environmental Corrections: A New Paradigm for Supervising Offenders in the Community. He also is coeditor of Criminological Theory: Past to PresentEssential Readings, Taking Stock: The Status of Criminological Theory, The Origins of American Criminology, the Encyclopedia of Criminological Theory, The Oxford Handbook of Criminological Theory, The American Prison: Imagining a Different Future, Challenging Criminological Theory: The Legacy of Ruth Rosner Kornhauser, and Sisters in Crime Revisited: Bringing Gender into Criminology. Professor Cullen is a Past President of the American Society of Criminology and of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. In 2010, he received the ASC Edwin H. Sutherland Award.

Richard A. Ball is Professor of Administration of Justice at Penn StateFayette and former Program Head for Administration of Justice for the 12-campus Commonwealth College of Penn State. He is former Chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at West Virginia University, and received his doctorate from Ohio State University in 1965. He has authored several monographs on community power structure and correctional issues and co-edited a monograph and a book on white-collar crime. He has authored or coauthored approximately 100 articles and book chapters, including articles in the American Journal of Corrections, American Sociological Review, The American Sociologist, British Journal of Social Psychiatry, Correctional Psychology, Crime and Delinquency, Criminology, Federal Probation, International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, International Social Science Review, Journal of Communication, Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, Journal of Small Business Management, Journal of Psychohistory, Justice Quarterly, Northern Kentucky Law Review, Qualitative Sociology, Rural Sociology, Social Forces, Social Problems, Sociological Focus, Sociological Symposium, Sociology and Social Welfare, Sociology of Work and Occupations, Urban Life, Victimology, and World Futures. He is coauthor of House Arrest and Correctional Policy: Doing Time at Home (1988).

First Chapter

J. Robert Lilly is Regents Professor of Sociology/Criminology and Adjunct Professor of Law at Northern Kentucky University. His research interests include the pattern of capital crimes committed by U.S. soldiers during World War II, the “commercial-corrections complex,” juvenile delinquency, house arrest and electronic monitoring, criminal justice in the People’s Republic of China, the sociology of law, and criminological theory. He has published in Criminology, Crime & Delinquency, Social Problems, Legal Studies Forum, Northern Kentucky Law Review, Journal of Drug Issues, The New Scholar, Adolescence, Qualitative Sociology, Federal Probation, International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, Justice Quarterly, and The Howard Journal. He has coauthored several articles and book chapters with Richard A. Ball, and he is coauthor of House Arrest and Correctional Policy: Doing Time at Home. In 2003 he published La Face Cachee Des GI’s: Les Viols commis par des soldats amercains en France, en Angleterre et en Allemange pendat la Second Guerre mondial. It was translated into Italian and published (2004) as Stupppi Di Guerra: Le Violenze Commesse Dai Soldati Americani in Gran Bretagna, Francia e Germania 1942–1945. It was published in English in 2007. The latter work is part of his extensive research on patterns of crimes and punishments experienced by U.S. soldiers in WWII in the European Theater of War. The Hidden Face of the Liberators, a made-for-TV documentary by Program 33 (Paris), was broadcast in Switzerland and France in March 2006 and was a finalist at the International Television Festival of Monte Carlo in 2007. He is the past treasurer of the American Society of Criminology. In 1988, he was a visiting professor in the School of Law at Leicester Polytechnic and was a visiting scholar at All Soul’s College in Oxford, England. In 1992, he became a visiting professor at the University of Durham in England. He was co-editor of The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice from 2006-2012.

Francis T. Cullen is Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus in the School of Criminal Justice at the University of Cincinnati, where he also holds an appointment as Senior Research Associate. He received a Ph.D. (1979) in sociology and education from Columbia University. Professor Cullen has published more than 300 works in the areas of criminological theory, corrections, white-collar crime, public opinion, and the measurement of sexual victimization. He is author of Rethinking Crime and Deviance Theory: The Emergence of a Structuring Tradition and is coauthor of Reaffirming Rehabilitation, Corporate Crime Under Attack: The Ford Pinto Case and Beyond, Criminology, Combating Corporate Crime: Local Prosecutors at Work, Unsafe in the Ivory Tower: The Sexual Victimization of College Women, Criminological Theory: Context and Consequences, and Environmental Corrections: A New Paradigm for Supervising Offenders in the Community. He also is coeditor of Criminological Theory: Past to PresentEssential Readings, Taking Stock: The Status of Criminological Theory, The Origins of American Criminology, the Encyclopedia of Criminological Theory, The Oxford Handbook of Criminological Theory, The American Prison: Imagining a Different Future, Challenging Criminological Theory: The Legacy of Ruth Rosner Kornhauser, and Sisters in Crime Revisited: Bringing Gender into Criminology. Professor Cullen is a Past President of the American Society of Criminology and of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. In 2010, he received the ASC Edwin H. Sutherland Award.

Richard A. Ball is Professor of Administration of Justice at Penn StateFayette and former Program Head for Administration of Justice for the 12-campus Commonwealth College of Penn State. He is former Chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at West Virginia University, and received his doctorate from Ohio State University in 1965. He has authored several monographs on community power structure and correctional issues and co-edited a monograph and a book on white-collar crime. He has authored or coauthored approximately 100 articles and book chapters, including articles in the American Journal of Corrections, American Sociological Review, The American Sociologist, British Journal of Social Psychiatry, Correctional Psychology, Crime and Delinquency, Criminology, Federal Probation, International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, International Social Science Review, Journal of Communication, Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, Journal of Small Business Management, Journal of Psychohistory, Justice Quarterly, Northern Kentucky Law Review, Qualitative Sociology, Rural Sociology, Social Forces, Social Problems, Sociological Focus, Sociological Symposium, Sociology and Social Welfare, Sociology of Work and Occupations, Urban Life, Victimology, and World Futures. He is coauthor of House Arrest and Correctional Policy: Doing Time at Home (1988).

Table of Contents

1. The Context and Consequences of Theory2. The Search for the Criminal Man3. Rejecting Individualism: The Social Roots of Crime4. Society as Insulation: Control Theory5. The Irony of State Intervention: Labeling Theory6. Social Power and the Construction of Crime: Conflict Theory 7. New Directions in Critical Theory8. Conservative Criminology: Revitalizing Individualistic Theory9. Mainstream Criminology Revisited: Routine Activity, Integrated, and Life-Course Theories

Reading Group Guide

1. The Context and Consequences of Theory2. The Search for the Criminal Man3. Rejecting Individualism: The Social Roots of Crime4. Society as Insulation: Control Theory5. The Irony of State Intervention: Labeling Theory6. Social Power and the Construction of Crime: Conflict Theory 7. New Directions in Critical Theory8. Conservative Criminology: Revitalizing Individualistic Theory9. Mainstream Criminology Revisited: Routine Activity, Integrated, and Life-Course Theories

Interviews

1. The Context and Consequences of Theory2. The Search for the Criminal Man3. Rejecting Individualism: The Social Roots of Crime4. Society as Insulation: Control Theory5. The Irony of State Intervention: Labeling Theory6. Social Power and the Construction of Crime: Conflict Theory 7. New Directions in Critical Theory8. Conservative Criminology: Revitalizing Individualistic Theory9. Mainstream Criminology Revisited: Routine Activity, Integrated, and Life-Course Theories

Recipe

1. The Context and Consequences of Theory2. The Search for the Criminal Man3. Rejecting Individualism: The Social Roots of Crime4. Society as Insulation: Control Theory5. The Irony of State Intervention: Labeling Theory6. Social Power and the Construction of Crime: Conflict Theory 7. New Directions in Critical Theory8. Conservative Criminology: Revitalizing Individualistic Theory9. Mainstream Criminology Revisited: Routine Activity, Integrated, and Life-Course Theories